Tag Archives: Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Alternet: More than revenge: Here’s why Trump is really targeting his own former officials | Opinion

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During President Donald Trump’s first three months in office, his administration has targeted dozens of former officials who criticized him or opposed his agenda.

In April 2025, Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate two men who served in his first administration, Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, because they spoke out against his policies and corrected his false claims about the 2020 election that he lost.

Further, Trump revoked the security clearances for advisers and retired generals who publicly criticized him during the 2024 election campaign.

On their face, such moves appear to be a coordinated campaign of personal retribution. But as political science scholars who study the origins of elected strongmen, we believe Trump’s use of the Justice Department to attack former officials who stood up to him isn’t just about revenge. It also deters current officials from defying Trump.

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But to carry out a power grab, incumbent leaders also need allies who will stay silent or, better yet, endorse their attempts to consolidate control.

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Recall that Trump only left office in January 2021 because key Republican officials defied his attempts to overturn an election he lost.

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In authoritarian contexts, loyalty is not an intrinsic quality. Authoritarian leaders do not necessarily select those with whom they have long work experience that leads to mutual trust.

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Instead, the challenge for authoritarian leaders is finding people to do their bidding. And the best people for this job are those who never would have earned their position in politics without the leader’s influence.

Unqualified appointees who can’t ascend to political power based on their merits have little choice but to stick with the leader. These people appear loyal, but only because their careers are tied to the leader staying in power.

www.alternet.org
More than revenge: Here’s why Trump is really targeting his own former officials | Opinion

https://www.alternet.org/trump-revenge-2672110754

USA Today: Thousands of federal employees are on a roller coaster of being fired, rehired

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‘Inefficency in the name of efficiency,’ according to one federal employee who was fired, rehired and may be fired again.

In recent months, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, rehired and threatened with firing again.

For now, they have a two-week reprieve, after a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration not to carry out any additional firings for two weeks, but the administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.

But employees describe weeks of uncertainty, worry and doubt as their jobs are off, then on, then off again.

Thousands of federal employees are on a roller coaster of being fired, rehired
‘Inefficency in the name of efficiency,’ according to one federal employee who was fired, rehired and may be fired again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/18/federal-employees-fired-rehired-await-court-decision/83600693007

NBC News: Kash Patel’s new way of leading the FBI: Fewer morning intel briefings, more pro sports events

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Supporters of the new director say he is bringing needed change. Some current and former FBI and DOJ officials worry he is not taking the job seriously enough.

Patel’s approach to his new job has raised concerns that he is not taking the position seriously enough, a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI officials told NBC News.

Officials who worked on the morning director’s briefings were told that the schedule was changed because Patel sometimes failed to arrive on time, said two current and two former FBI and Justice Department officials familiar with the matter.

At the same time, Patel has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country, according to flight logs and social media posts.

Since taking office on Feb. 20, Patel appears to have made three flights on FBI planes to Nashville, Tennessee, where his girlfriend, a country singer, lives; two flights to Las Vegas, where he has a home; and one flight to New York, where he attended a professional hockey game. FBI policy in recent years has mandated that directors fly on government aircraft for security reasons.

Kash Patel’s new way of leading the FBI: Fewer morning intel briefings, more pro sports events
Supporters of the new director say he is bringing needed change. Some current and former FBI and DOJ officials worry he is not taking the job seriously enough.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna202865

New York Times: Kennedy Swims in Washington Creek That Flows With Sewage and Bacteria

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, shared photos of himself and his grandchildren swimming in waters that handle sewer overflow.

Rock Creek, which flows through much of Northwest Washington, is used to drain excess sewage and storm water during rainfall. The creek has widespread “fecal” contamination and high levels of bacteria, including E. coli, and the city has banned swimming in all of its waterways for more than 50 years because of the widespread contamination of Rock Creek and other nearby rivers.

“Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health,” the National Park Service wrote in an advisory on its website, adding “All District waterways are subject to a swim ban — this means wading, too!”

His brain worms must be acting up again:

But Mr. Kennedy over the weekend shared photos of himself swimming in Rock Creek, with one image showing him completely submerged in the water. Mr. Kennedy said in the social media post that he had gone for the swim in Rock Creek during a Mother’s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with his family — including his grandchildren, who are also seen in the photos swimming in the contaminated water.

Dumbarton Oaks Park is downstream from Piney Branch, a tributary of Rock Creek that receives about 40 million gallons of untreated sewage and storm water overflow each year, according to the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority.

Yup:

Mr. Kennedy has also said that a parasitic worm had “got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.”

Probably ate the parts where the IQ points are stored!

Child abuse charges for this moron?

rfk-jr-rock-creek-bacteria.html

NBC News: Kash Patel’s new way of leading the FBI: Fewer morning intel briefings, more pro sports events

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Supporters of the new director say he is bringing needed change. Some current and former FBI and DOJ officials worry he is not taking the job seriously enough.

Probably asleep at the helm or out clubbing!

For decades, the head of the FBI has attended a daily 8:30 a.m. “director’s brief,” where he is presented the most important intelligence and law enforcement information gleaned from thousands of agents and analysts across the country, current and former FBI officials say.

And on Wednesday afternoons, the FBI director or his deputy held a secure video teleconference with the leaders of field offices across the country to share information about bureau priorities.

But that schedule has changed under FBI Director Kash Patel. Unlike his recent predecessors, Patel is receiving the “director’s brief” two days a week, according to two current officials with direct knowledge and two former FBI and Justice Department officials familiar with the matter. Patel has also stopped holding the weekly Wednesday-afternoon video teleconference with FBI leaders, one current and one former FBI official said.

Patel’s approach to his new job has raised concerns that he is not taking the position seriously enough, a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI officials told NBC News.

Officials who worked on the morning director’s briefings were told that the schedule was changed because Patel sometimes failed to arrive on time, said two current and two former FBI and Justice Department officials familiar with the matter.

At the same time, Patel has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country, according to flight logs and social media posts.

Kash Patel’s new way of leading the FBI: Fewer morning intel briefings, more pro sports events
Supporters of the new director say he is bringing needed change. Some current and former FBI and DOJ officials worry he is not taking the job seriously enough.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna202865

Robert Reich: Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity, and chaos

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Trump is fundamentally incapable of governing. That’s the theme that unites everything.

Some Democrats fear they’re playing into Trump’s hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living.

But it’s not either-or. The theme that unites Trump’s inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.

In his first term, not only did his advisers and Cabinet officials put guardrails around his crazier tendencies, but they also provided his first administration a degree of stability and focus. Now, it’s mayhem.

Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity, and chaos
Trump is fundamentally incapable of governing. That’s the theme that unites everything.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/ineptitude-incompetence-stupidity

Mediaite: FDA Staffers Dish on Unhinged Meeting With RFK Jr.: ‘The Deep State is Real’

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A meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Food and Drug Administration was intended to be an introduction between Kennedy and the agency staffers he oversees, but his remarks were so shocking that several people walked out, according to a report by Politico on Friday.

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According to Politico, Kennedy delivered “largely off-the-cuff remarks” in a 40-minute meeting with FDA staffers Friday. Two employees who attended the meeting spoke anonymously to the reporters, who were provided with a transcript and audio of Kennedy’s comments.

“President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.”

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Kennedy also accused FDA staffers of being swayed by “agency capture” and acting as a “sock puppet” for the industries subject to their regulatory oversight. He referenced human mind control experiments like the CIA’s Project MKUltra and the Milgram experiment, which tested participants’ willingness to inflict what they were told were painful, possibly fatal, electric shocks to others if an authority figure ordered them to do so — as part of a discussion that Politico described as “an apparent effort to encourage FDA employees to stay true to their mission of making Americans healthier.”

These comments from the boss “alarmed and disheartened” FDA staffers and several of them walked out of the rooms where Kennedy’s speech was being aired, according to the sources who spoke to Politico.

FDA Staffers Dish on Unhinged Meeting With RFK Jr.: ‘The Deep State is Real’
A meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Food and Drug Administration was intended to be an introduction between Kennedy and the agency staffers he oversees, but his remarks were so shocking that several people walked out, according to a report by Politico on Friday.
FDA Staffers Dish on Unhinged Meeting With RFK Jr.: ‘The Deep State is Real’

Business Insider: The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

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Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services showed up to their offices on Tuesday to learn their fate: If their badges worked, they still had a job. If they didn’t, they had to clean out their desks.

“I was crying the entire drive to work today,” an HHS employee told Business Insider as they waited in line.

The employee said they saw a man walk past, wheeling out his personal belongings on a desk chair after being terminated.

“I’ve seen three people who went in, and then came back out and left with tears in their eyes,” said the employee, who was eventually let into the building. “People behind me are sniffling.”

The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

People: FDA’s Top Vaccine Scientist Resigns Due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘Misinformation and Lies’

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Dr. Peter Marks, one of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top vaccine officials, has resigned.

In a resignation letter dated Friday, March 28, which was obtained by KFF reporter Stephanie Armour and shared on X, Marks cited the work done by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of the reasons for his resignation. 

“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” the physician wrote.

FDA’s Top Vaccine Scientist Resigns Due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s ‘Misinformation and Lies’
Kennedy was sworn in as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary last month

FDA’s Top Vaccine Scientist Resigns Due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘Misinformation and Lies’

Patch: Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics

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While the full ramifications are still unfolding, the Minneapolis Health Department announced it must immediately shut down its free vaccination clinics and halt all immunization outreach.

The local impact includes canceling five free vaccine clinics scheduled for April and halting partnerships with providers like M Health Fairview, Odam Medical Clinic, and Neighborhood HealthSource, city officials said.

The funding doesn’t just affect COVID-19; it halts access to routine immunizations like polio, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), and other childhood vaccines.

Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics
The funding doesn’t just affect COVID-19; it halts access to routine immunizations like polio and MMR, city officials said.

Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics